"To be hanged and drowned," he thought, "that is not so
bad…”
“He was not conscious of an effort, but a sharp pain in his wrist
apprised him that he was trying to free his hands. He gave the struggle his
attention, as an idler might observe the feat of a juggler, without interest in
the outcome. What splendid effort! - what magnificent, what superhuman
strength! Ah, that was a fine endeavor! Bravo! The cord fell away; his arms
parted and floated upward, the hands dimly seen on each side in the growing
light. He watched them with a new interest as first one and then the other
pounced upon the noose at his neck. They tore it away and thrust it fiercely
aside, its undulations resembling those of a water snake. "Put it back,
put it back!" He thought he shouted these words to his hands, for the
undoing of the noose had been succeeded by the direst pang that he had yet
experienced.” (I don’t have chapters but it was pages 6 and 7)
I find it interesting how in this passage it shows the human survival instinct. Our bodies are so wired to live that we fight, sometimes drastically, to survive. When Peyton was underwater, even though his mind had not thought of freeing himself, his hands were already taking action to get free. Then when Peyton did notice his efforts it was still like his hands, instead of his mind, were in charge of getting the rope off. Peyton’s body wanted to live so much that he didn’t even have think about how to do it. This passage shows, in a rather creative way, how hard our body will fight to survive.
Also I noticed that this
passage shows us another human instinct, the instinct to flee pain. As humans
we don’t like pain and will try not to put ourselves in pain. Peyton wanted to
just die and not have to feel any more pain so his mind was trying to tell his
hands to put the noose back around his neck. I found it interesting how those
two instincts were fighting against one and other, the survival instinct made
Peyton want to live while the need to flee pain made Peyton want to die.
Even in his hallucination, as you said, his body worked almost independently of his mind to keep him alive.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it strange how even in his dreams his instincts are to save himself?
DeleteExcellent observations, Sarah! Very good! Madi mentioned in her blog the adrenalin rush that gives people super human strength in traumatic situations. Do you think that is part of this as well?
ReplyDeleteI can see how adrenalin would play a part in this experience. Then it took a while for his mind to catch up to the adrenalin rush that his body had.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that I have ever been in traumatic enough of a situation to get a surge of adrenaline or strength but I wonder what this would be like?
ReplyDeleteI agree that he probably had a lot of adrenaline pumping through him which would allow his hands to work quickly and do what needed to be done so he could survive. It seems, as Sarah mentioned, that his brain couldn't catch up to his physical actions. While his body was moving quickly, his mind was moving slowly.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if since he had prepared himself earlier for execution, he was more willing to try to convince himself to die rather than try to survive. I mean don't you think that if you weren't planning to die you would be much more enthusiastic in trying to save your life?
ReplyDeleteThat is incredibly interesting how two very different instincts cab be almost totally at war with each other. I wonder why some people have stronger urges to survive, while others have atronger urges to avoid pain.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was kind of amusing how he was angry at his own arms and hands for trying to save him.
ReplyDeleteGood point! It is amazing how irrational we can be when in pain.
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